Drake signed a $400 million deal with Universal Music. Two years later, a Universal label released a song calling him a "certified pedophile," and it did 96 million streams in 7 days, 5 Grammys and a Super Bowl show for 133 million people.
He sued his own label, saying it gave Spotify a 30% discount to push the song. A judge threw the case out. On December 4, he gets one more shot.
In the video below, Kendrick Lamar stands on the Super Bowl stage and says he'd play their favorite song, "but you know they love to sue."
Insiders called Drake's deal "LeBron-sized." Variety put it near $400 million, with his music bringing Universal around $50 million a year.
Kendrick is on Interscope. Interscope belongs to Universal too.
"Not Like Us" dropped in May 2024. 12.8 million Spotify streams in a single day, a rap record. Over 1 billion streams. 53 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, the longest run ever for a rap song.
The same week, Drake's own diss "Family Matters" debuted at number 7 with 38 million streams. Kendrick's debuted at number 1 with 70.9 million. Almost double.
Drake says the accusation in the song is false. His filings claimed bots, paid radio play, a 30% cheaper Spotify license and even payments to Apple so Siri would steer users to the song. Universal denies all of it.
Universal called the lawsuit an attack on creative freedom that never should have been filed.
In October 2025 a federal judge agreed. She ruled the lyrics were trash talk from a rap battle, not facts anyone would take literally.
Drake appealed. He still puts out his music through Universal.
Universal paid Drake $400 million to make hits. It also got paid for the biggest hit ever made against him.
Was Universal just doing business, or did Drake's own label cash in on destroying him?